the spy 2022 movie review

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‘The Spy Who Never Dies’ Review

Stars: Paul O’Brien, Georgia Walters, Kristy Wordsworth, Teressa Liane, Hafedh Dakhlaoui, Cassandra Magrath, Amy Christian, Natasha Maymon, Amir Aizenstros, Josh Karlik, Luke Davis, Igor Bulanov | Written and Directed by Corey Pearson

Written and directed by Corey Pearson, The Spy Who Never Dies is a quirky action rom-com about an international spy named Brad (Paul O’Brien), who’s sick of saving the world and is looking for more from life, in fact just a “normal” life. A life with no guns, no villains, no recovering plutonium. A serendipitous event (as in Brad stealing a dog post-assassination) has Brad meeting a seemingly normal girl named Veronica (Georgia Walters) a smart, cute, vet. Veronica has a congenital heart condition, any excessive elevation in her adrenaline and heart rate could end her life. On top of that, she is allergic to bees, so a recipe for disaster… probably.

The film follows Brad as he tries to quit the spy agency, whilst trying to have a normal relationship with Veronica. However, Brad just can’t get the break he needs to see if love and a normal life are right for him… Enter the Russians with stolen hypersonic missiles and a mysterious character called Trident who is hell-bent on revenge! Which means Brad has to juggle his relationship with Veronica, all the while having to save the world… again.

The Spy Who Never Dies opens with the hijack of a sub by a badass female spy who’s there to steal the “big load.” It’s an incredibly unsubtle piece of innuendo that tells the audience exactly what to expect from the film – a satire of the spy genre that reminded me very much of Leslie Nielsen’s Spy Hard , only a hell of a lot more subtle in its humour… Well, most of the time.

So it turns out the “big load” was some Russian missiles and the thief, Trident (not the gum), negotiates with a Russian crime boss, called THE Boss, for their return as long as they use them to blow up key targets of her choosing. You see she, like a lot of women in this film, has an issue with Brad. Yes, it turns out spies like Brad – who’s clearly modelled after James Bond – who schmooze and canoodle their way through spy life, will leave some women heartbroken. Heartbroken enough to destroy the world! It’s a brilliant observation, one that comes from someone who has a clear love for the genre, enough to have contemplated what James Bond’s misogynistic behaviour would have put into the world.

Whilst The Spy Who Never Dies is a satire of the spy movie, it still conforms to a lot of the same tropes and cliches of the genre – which means Pearson’s film is still packed with action, including a great bathroom fight sequence that is on a par with the one in Mission Impossible: Fallout . There are certainly enough set-pieces to satisfy action movie fans, in fact if it wasn’t for the humour The Spy Who Never Dies could actually be a serious soy-film contender. But Pearson’s film does have laughs, which makes it a lot of fun; but it also has romance at its core too – the burgeoning relationship between Brad and Veronica is at once sweet-natured and heartwarming AND sexually charged and a little kinky! Yes, even their relationship is played for laughs.

The balance of action and comedy in The Spy Who Never Dies really works and writer/director Corey Pearson knows just when to lean into either at the perfect time. Plus the film is buoyed by a group of performers – including Paul O’Brien as Brad, Georgia Walters who’s particularly brilliant in her role as Brad’s love interest Veronica, Kristy Wordsworth as fellow spy Jennifer and Teressa Liane as Trident – who know exactly what the film needs from them. Special shout-out has to go to Hafedh Dakhlaoui as the spy “dog walker” who provides some fantastic comic relief throughout the film!

Ultimately The Spy Who Never Dies is a spot-on satire of James Bond and the genre as a whole, everything about the film hits the mark and on top of that, the film is a whole heap of fun!

****½  4.5/5

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Borat is dead, never to return—he’s been killed by the type of exposure Sacha Baron Cohen receives each time he goes public with one of his outrageous interviewees. Now, for his latest trick, Cohen echoes the commitment and danger within his acting style by presenting the real-life story of Israeli Mossad agent Eli Cohen, who went deep undercover in Syria from 1960-’65, eventually befriending that country’s president. It’s not exactly like when Cohen pretended to be a Mossad agent named Erran Morad on the recent Showtime series “Who Is America?”, in order to get to Dick Cheney to sign his waterboarding kit, but it’s not too far off. Executive produced by Cohen and directed by Gideon Raff (“ The Red Sea Diving Resort “) “The Spy” is a compelling albeit uneven limited series that offers a unique character study of a spy, and in this case, a true chameleon. 

Across six episodes, the series details through some bizarre twists how Eli went from a diligent department store employee in Israel to a spy embedded in Syria, pretending to be a confident business man named Kamel Amin-Thabaath. A twice-rejected applicant to Mossad, Eli is brought on by his future handler Dan Peleg ( Noah Emmerich ), and assigned to make connections with major people in Syria, to find out what they’re planning to unleash on Israel. Eli jumps at the chance, even though it means lying to his wife Nadia ( Hadar Ratzon Rotem ) about where he is, and what he’s doing.  

Raff has a “ Pleasantville ”-like approach with his color palette, only bestowing his images with full color once Eli is deep in his mission at episode three, and for the most part it feels tightly plotted. Sometimes, it’s rushed to a fault, like a cheesy training montage that shows how Eli gets into physical and mental shape over the course of a few months, or with a key detail that’s just not hammered in enough—Eli’s devotion to country, which becomes his motivation to be gone for so many years. But by the end of episode one, “The Spy” takes off as Eli transforms into Kamel while delivering a monologue to the camera—Kamel’s life story—and the series casts a spell, showing a chameleonic actor playing a chameleonic character.  

Eli’s journey takes him to Buenos Aires, where he befriends Syrians like Colonel Amin Al-Hafez ( Waleed Zuaiter ), who is rising in the country’s ever-tumultuous political state. Of course, the colonel is skeptical about a man who falls into his life with a smile and a joke, but once Eli is able to smoothly prove that he is for real—down to naming the grave plot of his fake parents—he gets access to the colonel, and his friends. Later on, it’s people like incredibly wealthy Sheik Majid Al Ard ( Uri Gavriel ) who Eli tries to tactfully woo, leading him closer to a mysterious operation at the center of Damascus. 

Eli is very much fashioned as an actor spy: Cohen never wields a gun, and only sporadically is shown snooping around. This is much more about something that’s innate within Sacha Baron Cohen’s work, of being able to read people in order to gain intel. Within the series’ compelling and grounded games of wit, Cohen makes it believable that he could blend in with these different crowds, despite likely being the tallest person in the room, and keeps the story grounded with the threat of Eli making a grave misjudgment. The most irresistible tension from the series, with big action scenes never missed, is in seeing Eli possibly get in over his head while interacting with people who could easily cut him off and in turn, kill the mission.  

But while Cohen is thrilling to watch as either Eli and Kamel, there’s a difference between impersonating and full dramatic acting, and “The Spy” too readily exemplifies it. Cohen can vividly present the the lives of Eli or Kamel, but he can’t capture the the nuance in someone who is stuck being both. Subtlety has never been something associated with Cohen’s showmanship, and that changes little here despite, and because of, the series’ grandiose dramatic aspirations. It’s Cohen’s little forlorn glances and quiet beats—meant to depict Eli breaking character—that can break the spell of “The Spy,” which is strongest when Cohen is exploring one character or the other.  

Raff’s series emphasizes the isolation of espionage by spending time with Nadia, alone and pregnant, her husband no longer leaving surprise love notes in her apartment as he once did. It’s a strong performance from Rotem, and creates a less lethal set of stakes, especially as Dan starts to get close to her, as if to offer some condolence for the dangerous mission he’s sent her husband on. But the cheesy side of “The Spy” takes over with these ruminations, like when Eli and Nadia are depicted in a split-screen segment, both sitting in a kitchen, eating a snack, staring off and undoubtedly thinking about the other.  

In a larger scale, “The Spy” knows how to create a growing sense in sadness, but not in how to deliver on it. Instead, the most important expressions are cheap, like whenever someone gets a chance to trash their surroundings to show their bubbling emotions. “The Spy” is hollowed out instead of enriched by its moments showing the human factor of Eli’s work, and it practically collapses in the last twenty minutes under its utter seriousness—the last episode is one of the most anti-climactic in recent memory, despite how Raff’s editing has been building to it from the first scene in episode one.  

“The Spy” casually contributes something significant to the spy genre—a strong sense of shadowy workers who just want to do their job so they can go home. It’s a powerful sentiment, and gives the espionage universal stakes, while making Cohen an irresistibly meta part of the project. “The Spy” is another high-wire act from the nonpareil screen presence, albeit a shakier one that often lives and dies on the actor’s very particular set of skills.  

Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

• Sacha Baron Cohen as Eli / Kamel
• Hadar Ratzon Rotem as Nadia
• Uri Gavriel as Sheik Majid Al Ard
• Waleed Zuaiter as Colonel Amin Al-Hafez
• Gideon Raff

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The Best Spy Movies Of 2022

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The best spy movies tend to keep us guessing who's a good spy and who's a bad spy right up until the end. These edge of your seat spy thrillers also sport some amazing cast members like Oscar winners, Jessica Chastain and Lupita Nyong'o in  The 355.  You'll also find a man with a certain set of skills on this list. That's right, Liam Neeson is in  Blacklight  this year and it's sure to bring back memories of when he played a retired spy in  Taken . Netflix also has an entry in the spy genre with  Munich: Edge of War  which tells the story of two friends on opposing sides during the a conference in Munich prior to the breakout of WWII.

But which one of these films is the best of 2022? You can help decide by voting up all your favorites. You can also vote down any that you think other fans of the genre should skip. Then be sure to check back throughout the year as new and upcoming spy movies are released and added to the list.

The Gray Man

Ryan Gosling is a CIA agent on the run from a rogue Chris Evans. If that dynamic isn't enough to watch this Netflix Original thriller, The Gray Man also stars Ana de Armas, Regé-Jean Page, Billy Bob Thornton , with The Russo Brothers directing. Sign us up.

• Directed by : Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

All the Old Knives

Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton draw in the audience with their subtle cat and mouse game as it relates to a mole hunt within the CIA. This spy mystery will keep you guessing until the end with its flashbacks and thoughtful performances.

• Directed by : Janus Metz

Munich: The Edge of War

Here's a gripping historical thriller about the start of WWII, that revolves around two friends working for opposing governments as they attempt to expose Hitler's secret plans.

• Directed by : Christian Schwochow

Code Name Banshee

• Directed by : Jon Keeyes

Rogue Agent

• Directed by : Adam Patterson, Declan Lawn

Liam Neeson has a certain set of skills and he continually shows them off in action thrillers that cater to his fans' baser desires. This government spy thrill ride is no exception.

• Directed by : Mark Williams

Dermot Mulroney and Mel Gibson make a 2022 entry into the spy-action thriller genre with Agent Game.  The film has it all, interrogations, double agents, and running away from rendition teams.

• Directed by : Grant S. Johnson

It's time to save the world and you know that's going to include a myriad of dazzling action sequences. Check out the trailer for youself and be sure to catch this one when you can.

• Directed by : Simon Kinberg
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